By DVN RAO, PGT Sainik School, Rewa (MP)
When the nature does the dance of destruction the human cleverness renders ineffective. No one ever expected any pandemic can cause such a huge loss to the world. I wish to restrict myself to discuss here the impact of Covid in the field of education and its aftermath.
ABSTRACT
Covid-19 pandemic has changed the paradigms of educational practices. Schools have been closed ever since the govt declared lockdown from March 24. It is now more than 6 months since the online teaching has become a new normal. Many platforms like zoom, google meet, gotomeet app etc are being used to provide online teaching. Though these platforms offer many features like white board, screen presentation etc, they fail to provide an alternative to the real time classroom teaching. In this article I will try to review the merits and demerits of online teaching and delve upon the impact of online teaching on three core areas of pedagogical triangle i.e. the student, the teacher and the content.
PROBLEMS
Problems faced by students: The problems of students vary depending upon the location and the type of school viz: Govt/ private etc. Take the case of Sainik schools which were established with an aim to bring public school education within the reach of common man. Obviously, most of the students are from rural background where network connectivity is very poor. Even attending 4 periods a day consumes considerable data which cannot be afforded by many students. In Kerala where online teaching is provided through Vector Channel, two to three students committed suicide as they did not even have televisions at home to attend these classes.
On the other side, very poor attendance levels are observed at some places even after having enough facilities provided by the parents. Teachers cannot have control on students as there is no individual eye contact. Some students attend simply to meet the minimum attendance requirement. They turn off their video and mic so that teachers cannot keep a check on them. students are not at all serious anticipatingfurther reduction in the syllabus.
Problems faced by teachers: Even well-off schools have reduced the salaries of teachers as their income has gone down. Some teachers who are above 45 years of age are facing difficulties in handling smart phones. They are unable to rectify any technical glitches which may occur during the class. Conducting online classes over google meet consumes a lot of data and it is unethical to ask teachers to afford especially when they are not paid for it. Teachers were unable to make satisfactory demonstrations wherever required. The audio breaks are great impediments and it takes extra efforts to repeat the content every time. It is necessary for the teachers to keep the mic of students always on so that students can ask doubts instantly and make the classroom interactive. But there are disadvantages too, microphones catch all other sounds which are interruptions in a class room. Though screen presentation is a helpful feature but one cannot use pen simultaneously. It is becoming increasingly difficult for lady teachers to cope up with the additional burden of making videos along with their routine chores. This image shows the problems of teachers in making videos.
In the image below the teacher is using the transparent tray of a refrigerator to minimise the shaking which gives blurred images.
– An article in The Times of India shows a teacher in west Bengal using a temporary set up on a tree totake classes, as he was not getting network at home.
Problems in delivering content: For a lively interactive class room it is imperative for a teacher to make an eye contact with students which is not possible while teaching online. In case if you are using a white or green board to get a good resolution the camera is to be placed close, but in such cases, the full board cannot be used and every time it requires to be cleaned repeatedly. There are no cheat proof methods to conduct assessment tests. Students have small WhatsApp groups where they share the answers. Only some universities in south are closely monitoring the students through cameras while they take tests. Most schools are using google forms, apps like quizzizz and Kahoot for assessments in MCQ mode. Though these apps shuffle questions and the order of MCQ options, students have their own methods to adopt unfair means.
SOLUTION
As the world is preparing to face more such pandemics in future, we need a national level strategy for an effective online teaching learning policy. No nation can afford wastage of academic years. A separate network exclusively for education be provided for an uninterrupted sustained learning process. An effective assessment system which eliminates the scope for any unfair practices should be developed at the earliest. More controls to be put on private schools so that teachers are paid at least proportionally to the fees collected and revenue generated.
REFERENCES :
- Challenges of quality in online learning.
- Issues facing online education.
- Images
(i) https://in.news.yahoo.com/amphtml/teacher-uses-refrigerator-tray-teach-131700726.html
(ii) https://www.scoopwhoop.com/amp/news/teacher-refrigerator-tray-teaching-viral/
